Rippling machine for the treatment of textile materials



Nov. 19, 1940. M, A SQENENS 2,222,446

RIPPLING MACHINE FOR TEE TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed Dec. 1a, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 l I I I I I I I I I I I I z' vvs/vrak 44.4- 0/? /'c. E ALI: 's Sp BIA/ENS A Try/ems] M. A, SOENENS RIPPLING MACHINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF TEXTI LE MATERIALS Nov. 19, 1940.

Filed Dec. 16, 1958 Y 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 44A IR/c E Nov. 19, 1940,

M. A. soENENs RIPPLING MACH-ENE YOR THE TREATMENT OF 'EEXTILE MATERIALS med Dec. 16, was sr-eQ-1s -.;hee+/5 Nov. m, 1%. M. A. SOENENS 2,222,446

RIPPLING MACHINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Tiled Dec. 16, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 19; 1940. I

M. A. SOENENS RIPPLING MACHINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Fila Dec. 16, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet s 7 x Q 9? Q g @E h y 8 N E. N

E Qw Y R .E 0 .N ww wn 5 a V T N T 1% A m y MB Patented Nov. 19, 1940 1 UNITED STATES PATENT or ies RAIPPLING MACHINE FOR THE TREATMENT.

OF TEXTILE MATERIALS Maurice Alois Soenens, Harelbeke, Belgium, as-

signor to The Automatic Flax Production Units, Courtrai, Belgium, a Belgian company Application December 16, 1938, Serial No. 246,078 In Belgium December 31, 1937 3 Claims. (01. 130-30) My present invention relates to rippling mavation and in planofa device for reducing the' chines with combs for the treatment of fibrous, thickness of the layer of flax when it is leaving ligneous or other materials, fiax forv example, prethe conveyor.

liminarily to other operations of the textile in- Figures 6 and show respectively in elevation dustry, such as for example scutching. and in plan the cooperation of the combs in a g As is well known, before being subjected to machine comprising'two combs on each side of' 5 scutching, the flax stalks, for example, have to be the conveyor. rippled, an operation which comprises removing Figures 8 and'9 show in detail the combs emfrom these stalks, by any desired means, the ployed in a machine according to Figures 6 and '7. 10 pods containing the seeds. Figure 10 shows by way of example a conveyor A certain number of mechanical devices are adapted for use in the machine according to Fig- 10 already known, which have been devised for carures 6 and '7. 4 rying out this operation and which'are known in Figure 11 shows a constructional modification Flemish by the name of repelmachinen and of the device for reducing the thickness of the 15 in English by that of rippling machines. layer of fibres. f 15 l These known machines substantially comprise The machine shown in Figures 1 to 3 subs'tana conveyor system and a system of combs. The tially comprises two's-cries of rods or teeth 4,".2 conveyor seizes the, stalks transversely about forming combs carried bysupports't, 4 secured their middle and feeds them in a layer under to two comb-holders 5i,- 5 engaging crank pins the rippling device. The latter comprises one 8, 9 formed respectively on t-ootheddiscs it, I! 20 or more movable combs to which are imparted meshing with one anctherand driven bya pinion successively a downward movement and a rearl2 meshing with the disc Ii; The pinion i2 is ward movement and which are then raised fixed to a shaft'lt driven by a pulley M (Figagain. In descending, the teeth of the combs ure 3).

5 penetrate the layer then move rearwardly, ren- The branch 5 of the comb-holder 3 situated dering the stalks more parallel and removing the outside the crank pin 8 is articulated on an arm seed pods which fall, while during the ascent the 5 pivoting on a support In the same mansaid teeth are cleaned. her, the branch 6' of the comb-holder is articu- These machines, however, have not a good outlated on an arm 5 pivoting on a support 6 put in View of the fact that all the movements The conveyor device for the flax stalks, for are abrupt. example, is formed by a disc i5 fixed to a shaft The object of the present invention is to pro- [6 revolving in'supports ll connected to a crossvicle a very simple and light machine, of conmember l8 of the frame' I siderable robustness and having an almost un- Cooperating with this disc 55 are a certain limited output. number of rollers 59 which revolve on spindles 351 For achieving this object, the machine accord- 20 carried by plates: 2i fixed to a channel iron ing to the invention is substantially character- 22, fixed in turn to a transverse member -23. iscd by the cooperation with a conveyor device The rollers H! are set in rotation by an endless of any desired type, and on both sides of the belt 24 which passes over two pulleys 25, 2t and latter, of one or more combs which are controlled effects the rotation of the disc I5, the pulley by a member having a continuous movement of 26 being driven by a sprocket wheel Z'l which is rotation and which are carried by comb-holders fast on thesame shaft and over which passes pivoted at their upper ends so that each comb, in a chain 2% drivenby a wheel 28 keyed to a shaft.- addition to a downward movement, is simulta- 30 also carrying a sprocket wheel 3! actuated by neously given a e p ry l r l m v m n a chain 32 driven by a sprocket wheel 33. fast on and due to this fact, the trajectory of the combs 9, shaft as carrying a. bevel pinion 35 meshing is substantially ellipticalwith a bevel pinion 36 fast on a shaft ill carry- The accompanying drawings are intended to ing the disc ll. show by way of examples how the invention may Fast on the shaft 38 carrying the pulley 26 be carried into practice. and wheel El are toothed discs 39, it (Figures '50,

Figures 1, 2 and 3 relate to a first form of 4 and 5) intended to act. on the fiax introduced construction. Figure 1 being a front elevation, between the belt 24 and the disc l5 and sup- Figure 2 a side view and Figure 3 a sectional ported at this place by a plate it, as will be exview. plained hereinafter.

Figures 4 and 5 are respectively views in ele- The shaft 38 drives through a transmission by 6 5,

chain 42 a shaft 43 which in turn drives a shaft 44 through a transmission by chain 45. The

shaft 44 drives a shaft 46 through a transmission by chain. The shafts 43, 44, 46 each carry 5 pairs of toothed discs 48, 49 and the transmission is so designed that the discs 48, 49 fastened respectively on shafts 43, 44, 46 revolve at increasing speeds.

Under these conditions, the discs I0, I I being set in rotation in opposite directions by means of the Wheel I2, shaft l3 and pulley l4, the crank pins 8, 9 are likewise driven with the rotation of the discs II], II, so that due to this movement and due to the fact that they are pivoted at their upper ends, the comb-holders 5, 6 are given a downward movement and at the same time a reciprocatory movement in the directions F1 and F2. The resultant of these two movements is therefore an elliptical movement, the combs al- I ways moving awayfrom the conveyor simultaneously and moving towardsone another likewise simultaneously.

These" combs disposed on both sides of the conveyor have the eifect of disentangling and parallelising the flax stalks which is very important for the subsequent treatment and with a view to avoiding waste. In addition, these combs thus moved effect the cleaning of the roots which always contain a rather considerable quantity i of earth and weeds, and efiect the removal of the seed pods.

The conveying of the flax stalks is effected by means of the endless belt 24 which causes the rotation of the rollers l9 and the disc I5, thus effecting the movement of the stalks which are seized approximately in their middle upon entering the machine, which is effected on a table 48 Said stalks'are carried between the belt 24 .,and the disc I5 and fall on a support 4| where l they are subjected to the action of the pairs of toothed discs 39, 40 and 48, 49.

These toothed discs engage the relatively thick layer of fibres and due to the fact thatthis layer is subjected successively to the action. of pairs of toothed discs, the speed of rotation of which progressively increases, the thickness of the layer of fibres is diminished anda thin and uniform layer is obtained which may be introduced direct- ;ly into a scutching machineQ T It should be remarked that in the construction described (Figures 1 to 5), brushes 48 are provided at the ends of the trajectories of the combs 1 for cleaning the teeth of the combs and freeing them more particularly of earth or other impurities with which they are charged as they move between the stalks of flax or other material.

tion in which use is made on each side of aconveyor shown in Figure 10 of two combs, each of I which describes a trajectoryellipses like the 54 and each of these shafts has two cranks 55 and 56 on'which are engaged comb-holders. En- 7C gaging the cranks 55 are comb-holders 5?, 51'

pivoted together about the top on a pin 58, while engaging the cranks 56 are comb-holders 59, 59 j pivoted on'a pin 60.

The conveyor (Figure 10) is formed by two end- 5 belts 62 passing respectively over pulleys Figures 6 to 10 show a constructional modifica-Z 63 and 64 and gripping the stalks between them. A series of small rollers 65, just as in Figure l, is provided.

As will be readily understood, each of the combs 6B, 6'! or 66 61 situated on the same side of 5 the conveyor is controlled by the discs 49, 50, so as to'travel over an elliptical trajectory. The an A rangement is, however, such that when one of the combs is nearest the conveyor, the other is farthest away therefrom. Furthermore, the 10 combs 61, 67 carried by the comb-holders 51, 51

possess teeth 68 close together, serving more particularly for removing the seed pods (Figure 8),

whilst the combs 66, 66 carried by the combholders v59, 59 'possess teeth 69 spaced further 15 apart and, serve more particularly for parallelising the flax stalks.

The machine is completed by brushes 1!] for cleaning the teeth of the combs.

As shown in Figure 11, irrespective of the form 20 of construction, it is possible, if desired, to replace the pairs of toothed discs bypairs of rollers H, 12, 73 which are driven at progressive speeds starting from the conveyor exit.

The invention is therefore principally distinguished by:

1. The drive of the combs which is derived from a continuously rotating member.

2. The disposition of the combs on both sides of 0 the conveyor which imparts to them the following multiple functions:

(a) Parallelising the stalks.

(b) Cleaning the roots which always contain earth and often weeds. 35

(0) Removal of the seed pods.

The invention thus provides a very simple, very light and very robust machine of practically unlimited output.

Thismachine may be applied in numerous in- 40 dustries and particularly in all industries where fibrous, ligneous and the like materials have to berendered quite parallel and cleaned.

What I claim is:

1. In a rippling machine for the treatment of 45 fibrous, ligneous o'r other materials in combination, means for conveying the materials through the machine, a plurality of pairs of combs adapted to engage the materials, one comb of each pair being mounted on one side of said conveyor and the other comb of each pair being mounted-on the other side of said conveyor, means forcontinuously driving the combs, comb-holders carrying at one of their ends the said combs, the comb-holdersbeing pivoted along their length at their point of support on said driving means and pivoted at their other ends, the other ends of each pair of comb-holders being pivoted one on the other, whereby the combs in addition to their downward movements are given reciprocating lateral movements, the trajectory of the combs being substantially elliptical.

2. In a rippling machine for the treatment of fibrous, ligneous or other materials in combination, means for conveying the materials through the machine, a plurality of pairs of combs adapted to engage the materials, one comb of each pair being mounted on one side of said conveyor and the other comb of each pair being mounted on the other side of said conveyor, means for 'continuously driving the combs, comb-holders carrying at one of their ends the said combs, the combholders being pivoted along their length at their point of support on said driving means and pivoted at their other ends, the points of supports 75 on said driving means being such that when one pair of combs is closest to the conveyor the other pair is farthest away, the other ends of each pair of comb-holders being pivoted one on the other, whereby the combs in addition to their downward movements are given reciprocating lateral movements, the trajectory of the combs being substantially elliptical.

3. In a rippling machine for the treatment of fibrous, ligneous or other materials in combination, means for conveying the materials through the machine, a plurality of pairs of combs adapted to engage the materials, one comb of each pair being mounted on one side of said conveyor and the other comb of each pair being mounted on the other side of said conveyor, means for continu- L ously drivmg the combs, comb-holders carrying at one of their ends the said combs, the combholders being pivoted along their length at their point of support on said driving means and pivoted at their other ends, the points of supports on said driving means being such that when one pair of combs is closest to the conveyor the other pair is farthest away, one pair of combs possessing teeth closer together than the teeth of the other pair of combs, the other ends of each pair of comb-holders being pivoted one on the other, whereby the combs in addition to their downward movements are given reciprocating lateral movements, the trajectory of the combs being substantially elliptical.

MAURICE ALOIS SOENENS. 

